ApfefliL
* HINTS
A Sign or I.nck of SUi'l.
Abandoned farms are evidences of
lack of skill and industry on the part
of their former occupants. The fact
that some of these farms have been
made profitable demonstrates that
more farms are abandoned because
| of inducements in other directions to
individuals who cannot make the farm
pay more than for lack of capacity of
the soil.
Not a CSoocl Footl for Cnvrn.
A recent writer says lie fed his cows
on pumpkins liberally for some time j
: , and they fell off in their milk two or.
three quarts per day, each cow, which i
was caused by the pumpkin seeds, for
j when they were removed and the same
quantity of pumpkins fed, the cows in
£ creased in their milk to a larger
jr amount than they had before given.
A satisfying proof that pumpkin
/seed will dry up the milk secretion is
demonstrated by feeding alternately
for a week or two by the t wo methods.
When the seeds are allowed an im
mediate lessening of thfe milk supply !
follows. While pumpkins are valuable
as food for the dairy and constitute a
cheap ration, the seeds act adversely
and must be removed.
Hon;* for Ouick Return*.
It has always been my experience
that there is a deciilej advantage with
hogs over all other stock kept on the
farm —the quick returns if good man
agement is given. As with all stock,
it is essential that a good breed be
had. By having well bred animals a
quick growth and early maturity can
be obtained. If a sow farrows in early
spring, say April, late enough not to
, endanger losses from cold, in nine
months the pigs, with good treatment,
can be ready for market. By this time
another lot of pigs can be growing.
Thus we can sell two lots of pigs in
a year from the same sow. This
gives a quick return, and at this year's
prices, a good one on the money in
vested. No other stock will answer
as well. The value of the hog to the
farmer cannot he questioned.—Mrs. M.
A. Speakman, in Orange-Judd Farmer.
Careful Cribbing.
Care should be taken in cribbing
corn to protect it aginst rats. Cribs
should be raised from the ground so
that the floor can not be gnawed
through, and the posts should be so
guarded that they cannot be climbed,
I know of no better plan than the old
one of covering the top of each post
with a galvanized iron pan, extending
out so that the rats cannot climb
around it; strips of galvanized iron
inay be nailed around the top of the
posts, flaring outward and downward,
•# like the eaves of a house, so that the
* rat can not pas the obstruction. Cribs
should not be near other buildings,
and everywhere care should be taken
to avoid building rat harbors. The
pest of rats does not stop with the
mere loss of the grain they consume,
although when corn is 50 cents per
bushel tills loss Is well nigh intoler
able; they visit dwelling and poultry
yard, and everything about the farm
suffers. All should begin at the be
ginning to reduce this nuisance by
cribbing the corn so carefully that
there will be no encouragement to the
rat family.—G. March, in the Epito
mist.
Failure or SiiccMD.
The careless dairyman lias no pos
sible excuse for existence. His cans
are more than likely to be rinsed in
ditch water, it hot water chanced to
be convenient, tney may be scalded
ever in a week or two. If he makes
W butter at home, he does it without a
thermometer. The youngest child
who can turn the handle or lift the
dasher is placed at the churn, and told
td remain until he hears the butter
milk "slashing round!" This man, If
he insists on keeping cows, should
take his milk to a creamery and buy
his butter there. He is a fossil, not
a dairyman.
But, if a man can keep his milk
clean every day in the year, if he can
be interested in the sweetness of his
milk cans, if he can be thoroughly con
vinced of the virtues of water actual
ly at boiling point as the only destruc
tion of germs of ill flavor, if he can
watch over his cream and control its
ripening, and churn with his thermom
eter and his understanding as well as
with his hands, if he can be enthusi
astic over the grain of his butter and
keep before his mind's eye the perfect
product, rather than the dollars and
cents represented by it —then he has
1 found his vocation and is likely to do
it credit. —Edith Evans before the
Arizona Agricultural Association.
Fertile Egg* In Early Spring.
If one desires to secure fertile eggs
early in the season there are certain
precautions to be taken. The hens
Shouid be induced to exercise as much
as posible. To secure this end there
is nothing better than to have abund
ant litter and scatter whole grain in it,
so as to compel the hens to scratch
for their food. The food shouid con
tain at least 10 percent and 20 percent
would be better, of animal matter.
Whether the animal food is ground
green hones, beef scraps or animal
meat Is not of so much consequence as
that animal food be given. Probably
if the bones have plenty of lean meat
adhering to them, they are the best to
/use. •
Beef scraps I nave used in prefer
ence to other animal foods, because
they are always obtainable at reason
able prices. Some so called animal
4
meats are apt to be two laxative aiul
their use requires more care than
most poultrymen are willing to give.
If a mash is given for one meal, it
should be fed warm, not hot, and the
addition of a little sulphur will be
found beneficial.
The eggs should be gathered regu
larly, and frequently if the weather is
cold in order to prevent their being
chilled. While an egg will endure con
siderable cold, yet even a slight chill
may prevent it from hatching, and it
is always "better to be safe than to
be sorry" in such matters. The fresh
er the eggs the stronger wil be their
fertility. While eggs sometimes will
hatch when six weeks or two months
old, they are much more likely to
hatch If not more than one week
old. If they must be kept, their fer
tility will tend to be preserved by
turning them over every day or two.
If eggs are purchased for hatching
and come from a distance, they should
be unpacked promptly, put in a cool
place and allowed to lie undisturbed
upon their sides for from 24 to 48
hours, according to the distance they
have traveled, before they are placed
under a hen or in a incubator. Experi
ments have shown that the jarring
incidental to travel to some degree dis
places tile contents of the eggs and
that a period of rest is necessary to
secure the proper readjustment of the
contents. Neglect to give traveled
eggs the requisite rest is probably re
sponsible for not a few complaints re
garding their being fertile.
A rotten egg is one that has been
fertile. Not a few complaints are
made that the eggs set were infertile
because after incubation they were
rotten. But their rottenness proves
exactly the reverse. An egg which has
never been fertilized will be as odorless
after three weeks incubation as it was
at the start. The sweetness may not
prove that it was never fertilized be
cause it is possible that fertile eggs
may be so injured that the germ never
starts to grow, but rottenness proves
that there was a germ which began to
grow but died during some period of
the incubation.—H. S. Babcock, In
American Agriculturist.
To tlie Ilesruo of Wornout I.untl*.
The unproductive pasture and mead,
ow lands of New England are in no
sense worn out and exhausted; they
are not dead, never to be re
vived again. Their returns are
small, simply because they lack
care and attention. Stir them up, get
air through them, and then add some
available plant food so plant life can
get started; they will quickly change
from their unproductive condition,
giving satisfactory returns.
All things considered, New England
is one of the best hay-raising sections
of the whole country. Much of these
lands are giving good farm return
with neither artificial feeding nor
care. Think vyliat they would surely
do were they handled in a business
like way. The New Hampshire col
lege farm is one of the most vivid ex
amples of what skill, science and caro
will do in the way of rescuing worn
out lands. When the college was
moved to Durham, the farm repre
sented one of the most depleted and
broken-down farms in the whole New
England district. But 12 tons of hay
were cut that first year; it required
some time to produce enough forage
for the smal number of animals kept.
But what a change in a few brief yeai 1
The past season finds every field on
the old farm under cultivation, and
newly seeded to grass, and two large
barns filled with hay and corn to over
flowing, and 80 head of cattle and
horses supported, besides a large num
ber of hogs.
How was this done? By tillage,
crop ratation, manures and fertilizers.
What was done for the improvement
of that farm is possible for every
farmer in New England. The first
step is tillage, and thorough tillage at
that; chemicals and crop rotation will
not show their full value unless good
tillage is followed.
Soil must be stirred up and filled
with air. This practice will improve
the physical condition of the soil; and
changes the unavailable, unassimilable
plant food into available plant food.
It losens the soil, it puts life in the
soil; it makes a comfortable home in
which the plant may grow. Then
crop rotation adjusts the different
plants to the environments of their
food. Finally, chemicals supply the
needed plant food to get a good and
vigorous growth from the beginning.
We have found it advisable in bring
ing up the New Hampshire College
farm to add the following chemicals
just before sowing: Muriate of potash
150 pounds, nitrate of soda 100, and
acid phosphate 200 pounds per acre.
This mixture was scattered broadcast,
then harrowed in followed by the crop
seed.
One favorable season the yield was
increased from less than a half ton of
hay to the acre to more than three
tons. An eight-acre field three years
ago was treated in this manner by fall
and spring seeding, and the following
summer 22 tons of timothy-clover hav
were cut. The last summer a trifle
less than 24 tons were harvested. Oth
er fields were treated in a similar way.
In every case the yield has been
doubled and trebled by tillage and fer
tilization.
Does it pay? Nothing pays better
than when hay sells for sls and S2O
per ton. The expenditure of $lO per
acre for labor and fertilizers will be
returned in a single year, with a profit
of as much as twice what was origin
ally spent, and then for four or five
years everything is profit, except the
cost of harvesting the crop.—Charles
W. Burkett, in American Cultivator.
The leopard cannot change his spots,
but a girl can get rid of freckles.
!
i Were Never Defeated *
• •
• Victorious Gener&.l3 Who Conducted Campaigns Without •
® Reverses. £
It is curious and interesting In read
ing the lives of great military com
manders to observe among the large
number of generals who have held in
dependent commands how few have
careers of uninterrupted success. A
man who can go through a campaign
and fight many battles and never suffer
a reverse must, indeed, be a command
er of the first order.
The Duke of Alva, one of the most
eminent soldiers of the sixteenth cen
tury. never, throughout his long and
eventful career, lost a battle. The
archbishop of Cologne was struck by
Ills efforts to avoid a conflict, having
on one occasion urged him to engage
the Dutch. "The object of a general,"
replied Alva, "is not to fight, but to
conquer; he fights enough who obtains
the victory."
Oliver Cromwell, throughout his mil
itary career, never lost a battle, though
he very nearly sustained a reverse at
Dunbar.
The Duke of Marlborough affords an
excellent example of a successful sol
dier. He combined all the qualities
necessary for a great commander, and
although he fought several battles
against the most experienced generals
I Chinese Clsuns Fight J
If\ vil
Trivial Disputes That Sometimes Lead Jo Great Loss cf Life, g
Americans in the region around Swa
tow, China, have been brought face to
face unexpectedly with a curious hin
drance to trade in the form of constant
fights between clans over the most
trivial things. As nearly every Chinese
laborer is a member of a clan in that
district, the commerce of the twentieth
century is stopped every little while by
the survivals of a past so ancient that
the American commonwealth is an ab
surdly young infant compared with tt.
The clans are all formed of blood rel
atives and are added to systematically
by interniariage so that all the mem
bers are bound together by tie 3 of rela
tionship. Each member pays all he can
to the headman of his clan, and the
sums obtained In this way are enor
mous.
Thus the Ur clan recently fought for
six months and the total cost of the
war was only 13 cents a man, certainly
as low a war budget as there is on rec
ord.
A few months ago two men from two
different clans met in a village in the
province. One mentioned the other's
clan in a disrespectful way. A pretty
© -rt<L>- .cßrv--uxL.--.-Bii- -reti. .v-DIA- <t
A. DREAM STORY ?
v
|t And Very Good Ons for Those Who Can Believe It.
A former Boston newspaper man told
a story not long ago of an experience
of a young woman of his acquaintance,
which, while it has not yet been em
bodied in any work of Action, at least
gives evidence of imaginative powers
and may be considered later. The
young woman spent her summers at
an old Marshfleld farmhouse, the win
dows of which had an outlook on the
ocean. She had a fad, of course, and it
was the collection of various kinds of
seaweed.
According to the story, she had a
dream one night of a storm-tossed
mariner who came and stood by her
side and implored her aid in going on
a search for treasure lost at a certain
point in the Indian ocean. The dream
passed and the morning came. The
young woman was about to leave her
room when she noticed a small pool
of water which might have been caused
by a dripping umbrella, near the fire
place. In the pool floated a small piece
of seaweed of a variety which she had
A Little Heroine.
It was "over in Jersey" tnat a little
incident happened a few weeks ago
in which an 11-year-old girl displayed
qualities of character wortay to be
compared with the men who stood by
their posts in the New fork tunnel
disaster. The girl in question, with
a companion somewhat older than her
self was playing on tho ice in tho
Itaritan canal, near New Brunswick,
when tho latter suddenly went down
through an air-hole, says Leslie's
Weekly. No help being in sight, the
younger girl promptly laid down flat
on the ice around the hole and waited
for her friend to come up, but when
the latter appeared she was too far
away, and her rescuer coulu not grasp
her. Twice the girl sank out of sight,
and when she reappeared, the other
who had commenced to yell lustily for
help, but witnout changing her posi
tion, managed to grasp ner friend's
hair. She could not pull the drowning
girl out of the water, but she held on
desperately until a man who heard
her cries came up and rescue both.
The water had flowed over the ice
around the hole so tnat the younger
girl was half submerged, and more
than half frozen when help came, but
she did not shrink from her effort, nor
seem to realize that she herself was
In any danger, her only thought being
for her companion, whom she had
snatched from the very jaws of death.
Why He Kept a Dog.
A prominent dog fancier and
wealthy man of Philadelphia stepped
Into a grocery the other night and ac
cidentally stumbled over a fat old Ger
in Europe, he was never once defeated.
The famous Russian general, Suwar
off, was another commander destined
never to suffer defeat. He gained sev
eral victories against the Turks and
against the Poles, and in Italy he was
opposed by Moreau. Being completely
outnumbered, he effected a brilliant re
treat over the mountains of Switzer
land, through Germany, into Russia.
He was held in great respect by his
soldiers, and although he showed him
self to be an exceedingly able tactician,
he used to say that the whole of his
system was comprised in the words,
"Advance and strike."
The Duke of Wellington, throughout
his brilliant campaigns, both in India
and in the Peninsula, has preserved to
himself a remarkable record of unin
terrupted successes from the first bat
tle in which he was vested with su
preme command throughout the Pen
insular war, in which he defeated the
ablest of Napoleon's marshals, until
the eventful day of Waterloo, when he
defeated the greatest soldier cf modern
times.
Don't bounce the baby when he cries.
Look for the pin.
battle was fought in consequence by
the clans. Several hundred men were
on each side. About fifty were killed.
It was a satisfactory affair.
In Chao Peng two men of the TJr-
Chang clan went out frog-catching and
passed through one of the villages with
less clothes on than the law allows.
It was late at night and only one vil
lager saw it. But the indignity was not
to be borne, and war was declared. It
involved 16,000 men on one side and
20,000 on the other.
Another battle in which property
valued at ? 10,000 was destroyed was
caused by a dispute between men of
rival clans over a gambling debt. The
amount at issue in the quarrel was
.0028 cent.
At present there is more or less de
sultory fighting between the Chow
Yang and the Jao Peng clans. No one
knows what they are fighting about,
but the rate of deaths is estimated as
being ten or twelve a day, which is
pretty good for mere bickering.
It Is hard to be poor, of course.- But
then, it isn't easy to be rich.
never seen before. Sho could not ac
count for it, but it was carefully pre
served in a specimen book.
Not long after she was a passenger
on one of the ocean liners. Among her
fellow-passengers was a professor in
one of the English universities, and an
acquaintance was formed between the
two. The professor shared to a certain
extent her interest in seaweeds, and
one day she was turning over the leaves
cf her specimen book in his company.
Coming to the specimen so strangely
acquired the professor uttered an ex
clamation.
"How did you come by that?" he
asked, with a manifest show of inter
est. She told him as well as could be.
"It is strange," said the professor.
"That is the second specimen of that
variety that I have seen. The only
other one that I know of is preserved
in the British Museum and was found
at a seldom visited point in the Indian
ocean." Then the young woman re
membered her dream. —Boston Herald.
man, who was sitting in a corner
smoking his pipe.
Under his chair was the most re
markable specimen of a nog that the
gentleman had ever seen. It had the
appearance of a pug, with rough red
hair and a long tail. It was impossible
to resist laughing at the placid old
man and his nondescript dog.
"What kind of a dog is that?" ask
eu the gentleman.
"I don't know," replied the German.
"I suppose you use him for hunt
ing?"
"No."
"fs he good for anything?"
"No."
"Then why do you value him so?"
"Because he likes me," said the old
fellow, still pufllng at his pipe, and the
expression of the dog as he looked up
from under the chair fully confirmed
the statement.
"There is no better or stronger rea
son than that," asserted the gentleman
emphatically, as he walked away.
Use of Volvofc CulTa.
Velvet cuffs on coats, after the plan
of King Edward's new frock, were
hailed here as a great invention sever
al years ago when the.y were introduc
ed. The wear and tear on the cuff of
an overcoat is always likely to be so
great that the cloth soon shows it.
There was never any means of repair
ing this until the velvet cuff was heard
of. No other consideration did so
much to gain for the style in vogue it
got. Nine out of ten Americans who
wore velvet cuffs on overcoats did it
to hide the repairs that had been
made.
New York City.—Novelty waists are
in demand for all occasions, and some
of the latest designs are buttoned at
one side. This way of fastening is said
A FANCY WAIST. ,
to admit of a great variety of rich '
embroidery and other effects across
the front. White satin, taffeta and
novelty silks and light shades of pink,
blue or gray are among the materials
used for waists to be worn with black ]
taffeta silk or velvet skirts. The chiffon j
separate waist has also come to stay, ,
despite the efforts of fashionable dress
makers to discountenance it. A Paris ,
Importation in this line was made with
the groundwork of pink satin, veiled
first with blue and then heliotrope
chiffon, and trimmed with ecru lace
and touches of silver.
Woman'* Five-Gored Skirt. i
No skirt is more generally satisfac
tory than the one cut in five gores.
FIVE-GORED SKIRT.
Tlie admirable May Mantou model,
shown in the large drawing, includes
an upper portion so shaped and a grad
uated circular llounee seamed to the
lower edge and is shaped to lit with
perfect sntigness at the upper portion,
while it flares ut the lower, and the
flounce falls in graceful folds and rip
ples. The original is made of sage
green veiling, with trimming of bias
folds headed with black and white
fancy silk braid that are arranged at
the foot in the centre and over the
seaming of the flounce and skirt; but
all dress materials are suitable, and
tailor stitching, with eorticelli sill;, can
be substituted for the bands when pre
ferred. Both front and side gores are
narrow in conformity witli the latest
style, and the fitting is accomplished
without hip darts. The fulness at the
back is laid in inverted pleats that are
pressed quite flat. The flounce is
curved to give the fashionable fulness,
and is seamed to the lower edge.
To cut this skirt in the medium size
nine and three-fourtli yards of material
twenty-one inches wide, eight and one
eighth yards twenty-seven inches wide,
seven and one-half yards thirty-two
inches wide, four and one-fourth yards
forty-four inches wide, or four and
one-fourth yards fifty inches wide will
be required.
All-Overs as Trimmings.
Dressmakers have discovered that
the lace all-overs are possessed of even
greater possibilities than the narrow
appliques. Hence we see them used
for everything from whole dresses to
the tiniest appliques—some one ligure,
a leaf or a flower, being chosen for the
latter. Then, too, these cut up into
big bands, some of them a dozen inches
in width. These are usually edged
with the narrowest sort of a scroll ap
plique In the same lace. A band set on
tae skirt in apron overskirt effect
serves admirably to head a flared or a
pleated flounce. For these dresses silky
voile and crepe de chine are ideal fab
rics, and white is flrst choice.
New Work For Chiffon Rosea.
Chiffon roses are no longer "lilies of
Ihe field." They must now toil, being
useful as well as ornamental. Their
especial labor is to hold down the ends
of black velvet ribbon trapping. A
j charmingly dainty dress in white ciiif
i fon with Cliantilly appliques has the
j bodice as well as the skirt given dis
tinction by a number of full-length
strappings. A pink chiffon rose, ex
quisitely made in different shades,
catches the end of each strap. Lest it
prove not trustworthy, the strap is also
held some inches above by a glittering
rhinestone buckle.
WocU For the Summer Girl.
Summer-girls-to-be with leisure and
skill may make for themselves very
pretty belts, which will look especially
well with their white waists or whole
dresses. Rows of ribbon arranged gir
dle fashion are feather-stitched to
gether with white silk. A few whale
bones covered with white may be
necessary to keep the belt in shape.
A Saxon Decree Against Corset*.
The Minister of Education in Saxony
lias issued a decree thai; uo girl attend
ing the public schools and colleges
may wear a corset. He maintains that
tight lacing is as deadly a foe to in
tellectual effort as the cigarette, there
fore as legitimate an object for educa
tional legislation.—Woman's Tribune.
Woman'* Three-Piece Skirt.
Skirts with flounces, that produce
ample flare at the feet, and that fit
with snugness about the hips are in
the height of style and appear to gain
in favor month by mcutli. This grace-
ful model IS adapted to all coft ma*
terials, whether wool, silk or cotton,
but as shown Is made of foulard. In
pastel tan color with figures in white,
and is singularly effective and stylish.
The fiOunces curve iu away to give
the best results and run up just suf
ficiently at the hack to give a smart
effect, their edges being finished with
stitching in self colored corticelli silk.
The skirt is cut in three pieces, fitted
at tile waist with short hip darts, and
the fulness at the back may be gath
ered or laid iu Inverted pleats, that are
Hat for a few inches below the belt,
then form soft folds and fall in rip
ples to the floor. The tlounces mo
circular, curved to give the fulness
desired by fashion, and are arranged
over the foundation. One, two or three
can be used as may be preferred.
To cut this skirt in the medium size,
fifteen and one-eighth yards of mate
rial twenty-one inches wide, ten and
THREE PIECE SKIRT.
one-eighth yards twenty-seven inches
wide, ten yards thirty-two inches wide,
or seven and five-eighth yards forty
four inches wide will be required.